The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1887-10-06
THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE.
Captain TILLMAN's REVIEW OF THE
ARGUMENTS ON THE QUESTION.


the Proposed Institution.
To the Editor of the News and Courier
In my previous letters L have at one time
or another answered or forestalled every
argument which has over been advanced
against the separate agricultural collerc
and it is disagreeable to have to go oy :,
the same ground again. But the opp
nents of such school in South Carolina
who realize and see that the idea is gain
ing ground rapidly and surely, continue
d to repeat the threadbarc and untenablc
arguments against it that have at various
times been advanced by "Carolinian, >
Capt. Paul Hammond and others. ]
therefore feel constrained to again take
part in the Controversy" or "discus-
sion," whichever it may be called.
1t is gratifying to note the fact that we
havo driven our adversaries to abar dor
tEeir first mode of attack, in which ridi-
cule and personal abuse wero mainly
relied upon. ''D.," the latest knight
who couches q lance in behalf of the
waning cause Of the agricultural annex
and whose articles have recently appeared
IN The News and Courier, says tho Ques-
ton of the "education of our youths
should be approached seriously. gravely,
earnestly, revorently." Most assuredly,
and agree with him that, in dealing
with this question, so blunder may be
blunder and crime both have been al
ready committed, and that alone has
moved me to undertake and continue the
agitation known as the ''farmers' move
mont." If l have at times overstepped
the bounds OF that ''serious, candid dis
passionate discussion" for which sd. 1"
pleads, L have had provocation enough,
as your readers well know, and | have
always acted on the defensive. [ claim
to have been actunted by an "carncst,
patriotic spirit, and with reason, facts
and arguments to fully sustain my posi-
tlor. L have only indulged in invectivo
or sarcasm to repel personal assault, Or
when | felt that the injustice practiced
against farmers required meritcd rebulle.
L and all the friends Of O real farmers
college and of agricultural advancement
II South Carolina are ready and anxious
10 meet our antagonists in fair debate,
.sgs'Teth er. .iEtlsazsavyspapers i'm = Or before the
people, and we challenge them to a 'Joint
discussion" of the issues presented. We
haYe nothing to lose and every thing to
gain by such discussion, and Willie
their trained intellects and oratorical
ability may and does give them the ad-
Vantage, relying on common sense and
the justice of our cause, we court the
contest. Truth breads darkness rather
than light, and we feel that we have both
. truth and justice on our side.
AS Chairman of the Executive Com
mittee of the Farmers Association,
L, i 49, ~
to tue Board of Trustees of the South
Carolina College and to the Board Of
Agriculture to appoint speakers to repre-
sent them, and we will do likewise; aud
we will further agree to get up mass
meetings of farmers to hear the cause
and decide who is right. 1t will come to
this at last, and it had just as we'll come
to it at once; for, as sd" says: "South
Carolina has always been and probably
always will be an agricultural State, aud
it is q manifest necessity that this prob
lem be solved with correctness and solved
with dispatch"
The wise disposition of the Hatch ap-
preparation, which will devolve upon the
Legislature ut the next session, renders
it all the more necessary that no more
mistakes be made; and ii the lawy ers
and "the once lordly planters" expect to
waste that money Us the land scrip fund
and privilege tax are now being wasted,
and as the two experimental stations
promise to waste it, it must be after an.
other election has shown that the major.
ity of the farmers are Of their own way
of thinking. 1t will not do to rely upon
the esprit de corps of tho lawyers in the
Senate to decide the matter contrary to
the wishes of the common farmers.
Many of the "once lordly planters" are
now common farmers, conscious of the
errors Of their own training, and Bour-
bonism will yet learn that neither class
partisanship nor political trickery can
shake us off. Let Cd" and his friends
who are fighting to sustain the "annex''
and agricultural bureau, meet us on the
stump and allow the whole case to be
presented. If the farmers then decide
that tho South Carolina College shall
stand as it is, we will submit, but not
till then.
In the meantime, l will endeavor to
answer the arguments ed. has presented
as going to show that the South Carolina
College is now carrying out the Federal
law in good faith, and fulfilling its re-
Quircments more fully than the Agricul-
turnl and Mechanical College of Missis.
sippi." In the first place, until this
agitation began there was really no agri.
cultural or mechanical feature attached
to the South Carolina College. President
MoBryde's executive duties absorbed al
his time and energies, and nothing has
been done and no change made in the
curriculum since August, 1885, except tc
employ IN adjunct professor of agricul
ture and erect small machine shop il
which applied mechanics are taught by
the naval officer who is detailed by the
United States Government for that pur
pose. Everything else is on the sam,
old basis, and the whole bias and ellec
of the training has been towards tht
professions and away from the farm; auC
~ fact cannot be denied that tho 1nc
anical department has developed rathc
IAN the agricultural.
Now "D." comedies that "South Car
olina is an agricultural State and Hhel,
to remain So" Shall we then rest con
tent with q little mechanical trainiu;
along with the classical and litoru
courses, as being the best to fit ou
youths 90 or Is a year, for becomin.
farmers? If agriculture is now our man
business, and there is such competitio